Button-clamp for sewing-machines.



No. 653,808. Piented JulyI I7, |900.

.1. fT. HnGAN. BUTTON CLAMP-FOR SEWING MACHINES.

(Application led Nov. 8, 1899.)

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' Hfs ATTORNEY NrTnD STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES T. HOGAN, OE JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE A NATIONAL MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK.

BUTTON-CLAMP FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 653,808, dated July 17, 1900.

Application filed November 8, 1899. Serial No. 736,226. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JAMES T. HOGAN, residing in Jersey City, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Clamps for Holding Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

Myimprovement relates to clamps for buttons having holes extending through them and for holding and presenting such buttons in proper relation to the sewing mechanism of a machine by which they are to be attached to a fabric.

The improvement comprises two plates between which the button is held, adjusting devices for the edge of a button, and means wherebysaid adjusting devices may be shifted relatively to the said plates. These means may have combined with them an indicator for showing the necessary adjustments for buttons of diiereut sizes.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a plan or top view of a clamp embodying my improvementA Fig. 2 is an inverted plan or bottom view of the same. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan or bottom view with the bottom plate removed, and Fig. 4. is a transverse section at the plane of the dotted line 4. 4 of Fig. l.

Similarlletters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the iigures.

A A2 designate two plates which may be conveniently made of semicircular outline, with a semicircular or analogous notch or opening at the center. The top plate A' is made comparatively stiff and rigid and is provided with a shank a for attachment to any suitable part of a mechanism employed to hold or present a button to be sewed to the sewing mechanism which is to attach it to a fabric. The bottom plate A2 is resilient and has a tendency to move away from the upper plate, and any upward pressure upon the plate A2 or any downward pressure upon the plate A will produce a tendencyin the two plat-es to move toward one another.

In the upper plate A' are three slots d a2 CL3. The slots o.' d2 are shown as being on opposite sides of the semicircular notches or openings at the center of the plate and in line with each other. The slot a3 is shown as being at right angles to the other two and opL posite the center of the semicircular notches or openings. Working in these slots a a2 a3 and projecting through the upper plate A to the space between it and the lower plate A2 are adjusting devices B B2 B2. As here shown, these adjusting devices consist solely of screws or pins having heads which preclude them from dropping through the slots and shanks or bodies which extend below the slot into the space between the two plates A and A2, so that they may reach the edge portions of a button inserted between said plates. These adjusting devices are moved simultaneously for the purpose of centering buttons of different sizes with reference to the semicircular notches or openings in the plates A A2. The adjusting devices B B2 coperate with the slots a a2 and are adjusted by arms comprised in elbow -lever C C2 and shown as arranged above the upper plate A', these levers being connected with the adjusting devices by having slots c, which embrace the adjusting devices intermediate of their heads and the upper plate A'. The levers C C2 are fulcrumed to two arms CZ cl2 of a cruciform piece D. Those arms of the levers C' C2 which engage with the arms CZ d2 are provided with slots c2, and the connection is made by means of screws E E2 passing upwardly through said slots and engaging tapped' holes in the arms d d2 of the piece D, their heads entending under said levers. The elbow portions ot' the levers C C2 overlap and are provided with holes,through which passes a screw E. This screw also passes througha longitudinal slot d in an arm cl2 of the cruciform piece D; but the head of the screw overlaps this slot. Besides passing through the cruciform piece D the shank of the screw F also passes through the slot in a piece or plate G, which is fastened by a screw H to an arm d* in the cruciform piece D. The shank of the screw F engages with a tapped hole in the shank ct of the upper plate A. The piece G at the forward end forms a support for the adjusting device B3, which protrudes through the slot as ofthe upper plate A into the space between that plate and the lower plate A2. By turning the screw E so as to unclamp the cruciform piece D the latter may be conven- IOO iently adjusted forwardly or backwardly by taking hold of and pushing or pulling the head of the screw H, thus moving the ad justing device B3 bodily toward or away from the semicircular notches or openings of the plates A A2 and rocking levers C C2, so as to move the adjusting devices B B2 toward or from said semicircular notches or openings. Thus the clamp will be adapted for properly holding and presenting buttons of diierent sizes. I-Iaving shifted the adjusting devices to their proper positions for a given-sized button, the screw F will be turned for the purpose of clamping the cruciform piece D in position, whereby all the parts will be secured.

Any suitable indicator may be employed in connection with this work-clam p. For instance, a pointer may be made to project from the device B3 or adjacent part of the piece G toward an adjacent arm of one of the levers C' C2, and a scale may be marked upon the upper plate A adjacent to the slot a3. The levers C C2 and the piece Gare made flexible in a direction toward and away from the upper plate A and have such resilience as to tend to move toward said plate A'. ThusV they may yield upwardly to permit the lower plateA2 to approach the upper plate A more closely when a thin b utton is to be held between the plates.

'What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button may be held, adjusting devices projecting through slots in one of theplates and movable independently ot' said plates, and means for simultaneously shifting said adjusting devices from and toward each other, substantially as specified.

2. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button Amay be held, adjusting devices consistingl of pins, projecting through slots in one of the plates and movable independently of said plates, and means for simultaneously shifting said adjusting devices, substantially as specied.

3. In a clamp tor holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button may be held, adjusting devices projecting through slots in one of the plates and movable independently of said plates, and means, comprising a bodily-moving piece connected with one of the adjusting devices, and levers ceases connected with other adjusting devices, for the purpose of centering a button, substantially as specified.

4. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button may be held, adjusting devices projecting through slots in one of the plates and movable independently of said plates, a bodilymoving piece connected with one of the adj usting devices, and two levers connected to the other adjusting device and oscillated by means of said bodily-moving piece, substantially as specified.

5. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button may be held, adjusting devices projecting through slots in one of the plates and movable independently of said plates, a bodilymoving piece connected with one of the adjusting devices, two levers connected to the other adjusting device and oscillated by means of said bodily-moving piece, and means for securing the bodily-moving piece in different positions, substantially as specified.

6. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of two plates arranged one above the other, and the upper provided with a number of slots, adjusting devices projecting through said slots and movable independently of said plates, a bodily-moving piece connected with one of the adjusting devices and having a sliding connection with one of the plates for holding a button, a screw for clamping said bodily-moving piece in position, elbow-levers fulcrumed by said screw to one of the said plates, and having slotted connections with the bodily -moving piece, substantially as specified.

7. In a clamp for holding buttons, the combination of plates between which a button may be held, one of said plates being adjustable toward and from the other, adjusting devices projecting through one of said plates toward the other plate, and means for supporting the adjusting devices made flexible so as to be capable of movement toward and from the adjacent oneof the two said plates.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEO. E. CRUSE, J. M. RIEMANN.

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